As a part of our coverage of the Derby della Madonnina tomorrow night, we rang up the young Swedish midfielder who was an integral part of the primavera-squad who won the prestigious Viareggio tournament in 2011, to hear his thoughts on Sundays match as well as to enquire whether or not he will ever return to Inter.
Sebastian, you are currently out on loan to Trelleborg FF in Sweden but still under contract with Inter. Can you clarify your situation?
“Yes, that’s true. Two summers ago I renewed my contract with Inter and that contract expires in June 2013. Just as you said I’m currently enjoying a loan-spell with Trelleborg and I will stay here until the transfer window opens in January because my main objective is to return to the most competetive leagues in Europe.”
How do you rate your chances with regards to returning to Inter?
“Inter is one of the best teams in the world so the competition to stake a place in the first team is very tough however I’d love to return to Inter. The most important thing for me as a young player is that I get played so I can develop my game further.”
Have you yourself or your agent had any contacts with anyone at Inter recently?
“We haven’t spoken so much recently however the closer we get to the opening of the transfer window our contacts will intensify, thats for sure.”
Inter have gone through somewhat of a revolution both with regards to the squad as well as to the administrative part of the clubs organisation which has been recieved positively by the fans however the club has had to suffer heavy criticism regarding the way the club treated Julio César. What is your view on that?
“Well it was absolutely clear that the team needed to be rejuvinated and this is something which always excites the supporters but at the same time you can understand the critique because Julio César is a part of Inters history and he has played in Inter for such a long time that maybe the situation could have been handled more smoothly than it was.”
One important aspect of the rejuvination of the club has been to confirm the appointment of former Primavera-manager Andrea Stramaccioni as the first teams manager. I know you were managed by Fulvio Pea when you won the Viareggio-tournament. Did you ever get to meet Stramaccioni and what is your impression of him?
“Yes it’s true, I had Pea during my time with the primaverasqaud when we won Viareggio. I was loaned out to Helsingborg IF that following summer and then Pea left and Stramaccioni took his place so I never got a chance to meet him. But I speak very often to Samuele Longo, Bessa and Duncan and they all say that he is a phenomenon.”
Duncan said right after the victory in the Next-Gen Series that Stramaccioni has been something of a father to him. Has he or any of the other players you mentioned given any examples or further explanations as to why he is so popular amongst his players?
“What they’ve said to me is that he is a straighshooter and very honest. From a footballing perspective I’ve been told that he is very good at organizing and balancing the team both in defence as well as playing attacking positive football.”
If we shift focus to the game on Sunday, a lot of the discussions have centred around which team gained the most from the deal that saw Pazzini shipped of to Milan in exchange for Antonio Cassano and 7 million Euros. Who do you think got the better end of the deal?
“I think it’s very safe to say that Inter definately got the better end of that deal even though Pazzini is an extraordinary lethal striker and is a few years younger than Pazzini. However an in-form Antonio Cassano is of use to any team in the world as he is a world class player which we have all gotten to see so far this season. The fact that Inter also recieved 7 million Euros adds further weight to the view that Inter made a better deal than Milan.”
Vad kind of a match do you expect to see on Sunday night? How do you think will take command?
“I expect to see an Inter who retains most of the possession and also to take the initiative whereas Milan will have to lay low in defence and try to hurt Inter by focusing entirely on counterattacking. Inter has a much better squad than Milan and therefore for me Inter are clear favourites in this derby and I’m not only saying this because I support Inter [laughs ].”
I can hear that unlike me you’re not very superstitious so therefore I have to ask if you can make any prediciton on who’s going to win and who will score the goals?
“I think Inter will win 2-0 and the goals will be scored by Cassano and Milito.”
We at SempreInter.com wish to thank Sebastian for taking time out to answer our questions and wish him good luck in the future as well as hoping that the young Swede’s pre-matchpredictions are spot on. Tomorrow night we will now the answer to that.
